Paper cup dispensing carton



Nov. 20, 1956 2,771,216

G. REINER PAPER CUP DISPENSING CARTON Filed Jan. 23, 1953 INVENTOR GEORGE REINER.

BY 4 z ATTORNE Y5.

United States Patent PAPER CUP DISPENSING CARTON George Reiner, New York, N. Y.

Application January 23, 1953, Serial No. 332,858

3 Claims. (Cl. 221-302) This invention relates to improvements in dispensing cartons or containers for stacks of nested upright receptacles such as paper cups or the like, the container being constructed and designed in such a manner that the receptacles may be dispensed individually from the lower end of the container. More particularly, the invention relates to a combination shipping and dispensing carton or container from which receptacles such as paper cups may be withdrawn individually as desired.

A primary object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and dispensing container of the character indicated which is designed and constructed in such a manner as to retain and support a relatively large number of nested receptacles and which permits the withdrawal of receptacles individually in a positive manner without causing injury or permanent deformation of either the container or the receptacles withdrawn therefrom.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and dispensing container of the character indicated having a separate supporting and dispensing element normally retained within the container at the lower end thereof during shipment and serving in its operative position to support a stack of nested receptacles and to dispense said receptacles one at a time.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and dispensing container of the character indicated having a supporting and dispensing element so constructed and related thereto as to eliminate the necessity of employing locking or fastening means or elements to support the dispensing element within the container, thereby simplifying the manufacture and loading of the container.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a shipping and dispensing container of the character indicated which is outstandingly simple in construction comprising a minimum number of component elements and which may be inexpensively fabricated.

The foregoing objects as well as additional objects and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent in the course of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein:

Fig. l is a plan view of a blank which may be employed in fabricating the improved container;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a blank for the separate retaining and dispensing element;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the completed retaining and dispensing element;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the assembled container partly broken away in order to show the retaining and dispensing element in its operative position; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional detail illustrating the operation of the retaining and dispensing element in its combined function of retaining a plurality of nested cups and dispensing the cups individually.

The container or carton of the present invention may be formed from cardboard, pasteboard, fiberboard or any other suitable material. Fig. 1 illustrates a blank from which the carton may be formed. The blank comprises a side panel 10, a rear panel 11, another side panel 12, a

Patented Nov. 20, 1956 "ice front panel 13 and a glue flap 14 defined by parallel vertical score lines 15 along which the blank is folded to form a rectangular carton, the glue flap 14 being secured to the free edge of said panel 10.

At the top of the rear panel 11 and front panel 13 are inner top closure flaps 16 and 17 which are joined to their respective panels by score lines 18 and 19 and at the top of side panels 10 and 11 are outer top closure flaps 20 and 21 which are joined to their respective panels by score lines 122 and 23. It will be understood that top closure flaps 16, 17, 20 and 21 cooperate to provide an end closure for the upper end of the carton and that other types of closure flaps may be employed if desired. Rear panel 11 may be provided with a pair of mounting apertures 24 by means of which the completed, loaded carton may be suspended on a wall or other supporting surface in its operative dispensing position, as will be described more fully hereinbelow.

A bottom closure is provided for the carton by a cover flap 25 joined to rear panel 11 along a score line 26 and having three marginal glue flaps 27. Glue flaps 27 are secured to the lower inner edges of panels 10, 12 and 13 to provide a lower end closure for the carton, as is clearly seen in Fig. 4. Bottom cover flap 25 is further provided with a preferably circular, removable area 28 which serves, upon removal from said cover flap 25, as a dispensing opening for the receptacles contained within the carton, as will be more fully described. A convenient way to assure the removability of area 28 is to define said area within said cover flap by means of a circle of perforations 29. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be seen that the perforated opening or circle of perforations 29 takes the form of an inscribed circle within the marginal edges of cover flap 25, although this need not necessarily be the case.

An important feature of the invention resides in the structure of the separate retaining and dispensing element 30 and in its mode of cooperation with the carton proper to serve combinedly for retaining a plurality of stacked, nested receptacles and for dispensing receptacles from the bottom of the stack one at a time. The dispensing element or insert 30 is preferably made from a singlepiece blank of cardboard or other suitable material having the general shape shown in Fig. 2. Insert 30 in blank form is defined by a pair of parallel curved upper and lower edges 31 and 32 and a pair of side edges 33 and 34, one or both of which side edges may have adhesive applied thereto to aid in forming the blank into the completed condition illustrated in Fig. 3. As can be readily seen in Fig. 3, the dispensing insert 30 in its final form is frusto-conical or funnel shaped having downwardly convergent side walls. A plurality of spaced slits 35 is provided extending circumferentially about the lower portion of insert 30 and extending upwardly a short distance from lower edge 32 thereof in order to define a plurality of resilient fingers 36 which aid in the dispensing of receptacles such as paper cups from the bottom of the stack of nested receptacles retained within the carton.

In assembling and loading the carton, the carton is first set up as shown in Fig. 4 with bottom cover flap 25 securely adjusted in place by means of the marginal glue flaps 27. Retaining and dispensing insert 30 is then dropped through the upper open end of the carton with the smaller end of the insert facing downwardly so that the lower edge 32 thereof will finally come to rest against the inside of cover flap 25. The carton may then be loaded with a stack of nested receptacles such as paper cups C provided with bead-like rims R. After loading with the cups C, the carton is sealed at its upper end by means of the top closure flaps 16, 17, 20 and 21. In the form just described the cartonserves as a shipping 3 container and the nested receptacles are safely and sanitarily retained therewithin. When the carton has reached the hands of the consumer, however, it can readily serve as a dispensing container from which the paper cups C or other receptacles may be conveniently withdrawn one at a time.

The following simple procedure serves to convert the carton from a shipping container to a dispensing container: Firstly, the circular, removable area 28 is detached from bottom cover flap 25, thereby making accessible the lower end of dispensing insert 30. Next, the end of insert 30 is protruded a slight distance through the perforated opening resulting from the detachment of removable cover area 28, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5. In this latter position of insert 30, of course, the resilient fingers 36 are exposed externally of the carton below bottom cover flap 25 and are operative to dispense cups C one by one from the bottom of the stack, the weight of the remaining stacked receptacles being substantially supported by insert 30 in the Zone immediately above said resilient fingers. As best seen in Fig. 5, it will be understood that as the lowermost receptacle C is withdrawn through the relatively constricted lower end of insert 30, rim R will successively contact and then deflect outwardly the resilient fingers 36 to permit dispensing of an individual receptacle. After a cup has been completely withdrawn, the resilient fingers 36 will substantially resume their original position pending the withdrawal of the next receptacle.

Obviously, in order to function properly the inside diameter of the lower end of insert 30 or the inside diameter of the insert in the zone immediately above the resilient fingers 36 must be slightly less than the outside diameter of the rims R of cups C in order to insure that only one cup at a time will be withdrawn from the carton and that the remainder of the stacked, nested cups will be supported by the dispensing insert.

By reason of the construction and arrangement of the present invention, and in particular the construction and cooperation of the retaining and dispensing insert 30 with the carton proper an extremely simple and efiicient carton serving combinedly as a shipping container and a dispensing container is provided. The frustoconical insert 30 having a relatively wide upper end assures proper automatic alignment and feeding of the nested stack of receptacles toward dispensing position as the constricted lower end of the insert where the presence of the resilient fingers 36 cooperates with the described shape and dimensioning of the insert to insure withdrawal of the receptacles one by one. Furthermore, in contradistinction to dispensing inserts of conventional design, insert 30 of the present invention need not be glued, stapled or otherwise affixed firmly to the carton in assembly. On the contrary, the insert is initially freely disposed in the carton adjacent the inside of bottom cover flap 25 during shipment and, following the detachment of the removable area 28 of the cover flap, remains firmly associated with the carton in operative dispensing position by reason of its frusto-conical shape.

Since certain modifications may be made in the carton of the present invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing specification and shown in the accompanying drawing be interpreted merely as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. For use with a plurality of cups which taper upwardly and have rims on their upper ends, said cups being nested in a stack, a shipping and dispensing carton comprising an elongated body adapted to house a stack of such cups and having a closure flap forming the lower end wall thereof and on which the bottom of the lowermost cup in the stack is adapted to seat, said end wall having a removable section of a diameter at least slightly greater than the diameter of the tops of the cups so that the cups can pass downwardly through the end Wall as they are being dispensed, and a tubular dispensing element freely positioned in the carton and adapted to surround the lowermost cups in the stack, the walls defined by said tubular dispensing element being downwardly and defining a minor lower end and a major upper end, said upper end being of an external diameter greater than the diameter of the removable section and said minor end being of a lesser external diameter than the diameter of the removable section so that it can pass downwardly through the end wall and protrude slightly therebelow, said minor end being resilient and having an internal diameter which is slightly less than the external diameter of the upper ends of the cups.

2. For use with a plurality of cups which taper upwardly and have rims on their upper ends, said cups being nested in a stack, a shipping and dispensing carton comprising an elongated body adapted to house a stack of such cups and having a closure flap forming the lower end wall thereof and on which the bottom of the lowermost cup in the stack is adapted to seat, said end Wall having a removable section of a diameter at least slightly greater than the diameter of the tops of the cups so that the cups can pass downwardly through the end wall as they are being dispensed, and a tubular dispensing element freely positioned in the carton and adapted to surround the lowermost cups in the stack, the walls defined by said tubular dispensing element being downwardly converging and defining a minor lower end and a major upper end, said upper end being of an external diameter greater than the diameter of the removable section and said minor end being of a lesser external diameter than the diameter of the removable section so that it can pass downwardly through the end wall and protrude slightly therebelow, said minor end being resilient and having an internal diameter which is slightly less than the external diameter of the upper ends of the cups, said protruding portion of the minor end being formed with a plurality of circumferentially spaced axial slits defining resilient fingers.

3. For use with a plurality of cups which taper upwardly and have rims on their upper ends, said cups being nested in a stack, a shipping and dispensing carton comprising an elongated body adapted to house a stack of such cups and having a closure flap forming the lower end wall thereof and on which the bottom of the lowermost cup in the stack is adapted to seat, said end wall having a removable section of a diameter at least slightly greater than the diameter of the' tops of the cups so that the cups can pass downwardly through the end wall as they are being dispensed, and a tubular dispensing element freely positioned in the carton and adapted to surround the lowermost cups in the stack, the walls defined by said tubular dispensing element being downwardly converging and defining a minor lower end and a major upper end, said upper end being of an external diameter greater than the diameter of the removable section and said minor end being of a lesser external diameter than the diameter of the removable section so that it can pass downwardly through the end wall and protrude slightly therebelow, said minor end having circumferentially spaced resilient fingers forming the protruding portion thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,201,963 Hill 061. 17 1916 2,092,745 Horton Sept. 14, 1937 2,325,214 Amberg July 27, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 666,030 Great Britain 1952 

